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Exploding Pressure Cooker

An aerial shot of a fissure and lava flows on Mauna Loa on November 28, 2022.
An aerial shot of a fissure and lava flows on Mauna Loa on November 28, 2022. Photo: K. Lynn/USGS

Volcanoes are kind of like “a pressure cooker,” Phoenix said. “Rock on top of the volcano is acting like a cork, or a plug, or a seal. But at some point, the amount of pressure that is created by the expansion of volcanic gasses in that magma—it’ll be too much for the rock. Basically, your pressure cooker explodes.”